Upfronts 2021: Studio Chiefs On Broadcast Comedies’ Viability, Light Fare’s Rise Post-Covid & Pandemic’s Permanent Effect On Development & Production
For the first time since start of the Big Four era in broadcast TV, two of the four networks, NBC and Fox, will have no live-action comedies on the fall schedule amid a challenging period for the genre and efforts to redraw the decades-old broadcast comedy model for the streaming age. Meanwhile, the networks are leaning heavily on franchise-driven, linear viewing-friendly procedural dramas with new installments of NBC’s Law & Order and CBS’ NCIS, CSI and FBI, as well as aspirational fare such as Fox’s ballet dramedy The Big Leap.